Zhi Dong Zhang, an operative of the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), was transferred to Brooklyn, New York, to begin his legal proceedings in the United States with Judge Brian M. Cogan, who also prosecuted Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and is also overseeing the case of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
This comes after he was handed over to U.S. authorities on Thursday, October 23, after being recaptured in Cuba along with two others, including a Mexican national and a Chinese national.
According to Zeta Weekly, the Chinese national was presented a day later before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville. At the hearing, Judge Ignacio Torteya determined that Zhang must initially face the charges filed against him in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York in June 2021.
Since he did not oppose his transfer, the Chinese national will face justice in that country in the same court that handles the cases of other Sinaloa Cartel drug traffickers, such as “El Mayo,” the former leader of this criminal organization arrested on July 25, 2024.
The aforementioned media outlet detailed that Zhang faces ten counts of international cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking, as well as money laundering in New York, in which Cosme Avendaño Soto and Qi Yun are also co-defendants.
It should be noted that the two main charges against him were filed in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta. In October 2022, he was charged with thirteen counts of cocaine trafficking and money laundering involving transactions totaling $355,000.
In that Federal Court, Judge Justin S. Anand set the first hearing against the Chinese national for November 17, according to Zeta.
